A government must inspire credibility and trust indirectly through its actions. In the Fás affair our leaders have done the opposite, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the Irish Times September 29, 2009

PRESIDENT BARACK Obama had difficulty trying to convince the American public about his 10-year $900 billion plan for healthcare reform. For some, the provision of near-universal cover is the end of democracy and the prologue to communism. For others, “death panels” will now decide who lives and dies. The debate was infected by so much vitriol that former president Jimmy Carter suggested it was racially motivated.

MY GAELIC football season is almost over. I still don’t know why people insist on calling it ladies’ football. Sunday’s All-Ireland final witnessed a brilliant battle of wits between Tadhg Kennelly and Graham Canty but I’m not sure that the Kerry and Cork men would wittingly describe their sporting skills as gentlemen’s football, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES September 22, 2009

I’ve played football for Wicklow and Limerick clubs but Dublin is different. Our games bring us to parts of the city that most people never have the inclination to visit. Last week’s match was in an area of the city probably well-known to the Garda, as that subtlety goes. The dressing room was a burnt-out prefab decorated with graffiti, with no electricity or toilets.

Fás and O’Donoghue are the latest examples of unethical behaviour deeply entrenched within our system, writes ELAINE BYRNE in THE IRISH TIMES September 15, 2009

POLITICAL LANGUAGE is a curious animal. The Dáil record shows that debate on corruption was least when it was almost certainly happening the most.

Although the beef, McCracken, Mahon and Moriarty tribunals revealed the extraordinary extent of political favouritism, conflict of interest and corruption that took place during the 1970s and 1980s, Dáil discussion on such issues was less than previous or subsequent decades.

We need to ditch our innate conservatism and seize the opportunity for fundamental systematic change

IRISH TIMES September 8, 2009

THIS COLUMN is at a crossroads.

In the manner of Robert Frost, two roads have diverged in a wood and I’m not sure which one to travel by.

The first road is the one we have looked down as far as we could to where it bends in the undergrowth. This is the Ireland with new international monikers: Eirn Go Broke (New York Times), Direland (Financial Times) and Tin Hat Time (Economist). On this path, we accept the need for sober and responsible action, in the national interest. We need to do the right thing for the long-term future of the country. I would like to travel on this road.